The present invention relates broadly to devices for determining the size of a person's foot and, more particularly, to a device for automatically measuring the dimensions of a person's foot and providing a displayed output indicating the preferable shoe size for each foot with the shoe size being tailored to a variety of different units (country-specific and shoe manufacturer-specific).
Proper shoe sizing is an important aspect of life. Improperly fitted shoes, whether because of improper length, width, instep, or some combination of all three, can lead to discomfort, pain, or annoyance. Many generations of shoe purchasers have relied upon a manual shoe sizing device wherein a scaled platform is provided with a heel locator, a locator for the ball of the foot and scale graduations to determine the size from the position of the heel, toe and ball of the foot. This device, which relies upon human placement of the foot and human determination of the measurement, is of questionable precision and accuracy.
In recent years, there have been attempts to provide for more accuracy and precision through the use of devices which automatically determine the size of a person's foot. For example, Wolfersberger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,793, discloses a device which uses an optical scanner to produce a three-dimensional image of the foot, which a computer then converts into a shoe size recommendation. White, U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,880, discloses a device that scans the bottom facing surfaces of a foot and electronically displays the scan of the foot on a visual display. Bock et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,807, electronically measures the size of a person's foot using optics. The foot is placed into a well on the side of the apparatus and light is used to create a shadow of the foot on a mirror with the image being recovered by a camera for display.
All of these optical scanning devices are relatively complex, large, heavy, expensive, and require precise adjustment to maintain proper sizing.